The baha’i world

HOUR THREE  

Thy words have brought a calmness to my soul  

Not known before: but yet I still am wide  

From understanding. All around me roll  

The strifes of men who put their selfish pride  

And bodies’ need above all else beside.  

And I too feel the pressure of my need;  

I have aspired to more abundant life.  

Should not man eagerly this longing feed  

And seek the full enjoyment of this world  

Wherein he hath, without consent, been hurled?  

God Speaks:  

Upon the sweetness of pure servitude  

Man’s spirit feeds. I have adorned the face  

Of Nature with this Truth: who of this food  

Eats not can in My Kingdom find no place. 

 

Yet see: its service makes thy nights and days!  

And even the grass, in humble service sweet, Makes all the earth a carpet for thy feet  

Shall man alone, defying My wise Plan, Demand a price to serve his brother man?  

When man attains the station of re-birth  

Into My Kingdom’s Love no more shall dearth  

In midst of plenty curse the race of Man:  

The meek shall then inherit all the earth.  

Man Speaks:  

If I am meek men tread me in the mire.  

My spirit longs to serve none else but Thee,  

But how can I be humble and aspire  

To servitude? This world imprisons me.  

o 

help me, God, My soul longs to be free!  

God Speaks:  

Throughout My universe I have ordained  

The Law of Energy. Lo! All things work. Age-long My toiling spheres have not complained  

Nor, slothful, sought their heaven-born task to shirk,  

Yet note their endless travail. And behold  

The atom! Here a universe unrolled  

In miniature before thy wondering eye:  

Its bright electrons see, they ceaseless ply  

With noiseless speed and not a jot abate  

Their toil, that they may aid Me to create.  

Thus doth the universe acknowledge Me  

And in its constant toil do reverence.  

‘Tis man alone who in his work doth see  

A means for selfish gain. To penitence  

For this dread sin against My Love I called  

Him by the scourge of crime and poverty,  

That through his suffering he may wiser be,  

And know work as a means to worship Me.  

Lo, how the whole world now doth stand appalled  

Before the wreck such wantonness hath made!  

This is My bounty, making man afraid  

Above all else to brave My chastening Rod:  

Hence My Command to “Fear the Lord thy God.” 

 

Behold thc sun: it asks no pay nor praise 

 

SONG OFFERINGS 

 

957 

 

Man Speaks:  

My Lord! How may I find Thee in my toil?  

My heart leaps with new ecstasy to hear  

That labor may no longer be to moil  

And sweat beneath the awful lash of fear:  

Ah, what a royal crown might Labor wear!  

God Speaks:  

How sweet is work, an attribute of Mine!  

Shall man deprive himself of this divine  

And sacred gift? Again I call to thee  

And all men: seek in servitude the wine  

Of union.  

If thou wouldst My lover be  

Pour all thy love on men; if thou wouldst find  

True wealth of joy to thine own joy be blind;  

If thou wouldst fill thy barns with harvest store  

See that thy brother men shall have still more.  

O give and all to thee shall then be given. How vainly men for self have fought and  

striven  

Throughout the ages! Is it not enough? Come, build on earth the Kingdom of My  

Heaven!  

Thus shall earth pour her riches in men’s hands;  

To him who gives My stars give in their turn;  

From one Ray of My Generosity Such Suns of generosity shall rise That men shall look on men with glad surprise  

And wonder that it took so long to learn.  

The splendor of this luminosity,  

Which from My Sun shall pour upon all lands,  

Shall bathe My people in Celestial light,  

And all their terrors, creatures of the night  

Of Self, their poverty and shame, the bands  

Of steel which made their sordid toil a curse,  

Shall, like all phantoms of the dark, take flight  

And men shall find in work their truest prayer,  

The fruits of which they all together share. This is the law of all My universe. 

 

To all My World I call: This is a Day  

The light of which beyond the noon-day sun  

Is sanctified. It is the Day foretold.  

See how the nations late so proud and bold  

Are humbled in the shadow of their doom.  

Their councils are in tumult; earthquakes roar  

As the oppressed of men toss in the gloom, And threaten those whom late they bowed  

before.  

My Messenger hath come with healing wings And sword of Justice. To all wrong He  

brings  

Destruction; to the Right triumphant sway. This is the meaning of My Prophet’s Word:  

“Behold the Great and Fearful Day of God.”  

My Trump hath blown: My Holy, venging Sword  

Hath cast the mighty from their seats. The sod  

So long drenched with the blood of innocence  

Shall bloom again. The time for penitence  

Is past. My Justice and My Love shall reign  

And earth shall be a paradise again.  

Bewildered are the learned and the wise  

Of this world, and the nations tremble sore  

To their foundations.  

But those blessed eyes  

Which kept awake and watched that they might see  

And greet My coming, these My Name adore And write upon their hearts My high Command.  

They take My Chalice from My generous Hand  

And drink with joy, their pure hearts all aflame,  

And cry aloud in every Prophet’s Name:  

“Praise be to Thee, our long-awaited Lord! Praise be to Thee, we cling to Thy strong  

Cord!  

Praise be to Thee, our souls to Thee are turning!  

Praise be to Thee, beloved of our heart’s yearning!” 

 

958 

 

THE BAHA’T WORLD 

 

This is the Day for which My dear Son prayed  

And taught men thus to pray. He with My aid  

Worked for My Kingdom; Its foundations laid  

In all men’s hearts with loving servitude.  

My kind forbearance made oppressors bold; My patience negligent their hearts hath  

made,  

Till now the flags of passion they unfold And ride their steeds to death all unafraid.  

But know that I love Justice over all:  

None may neglect it who desireth Me.  

The hidden secrets of all hearts I see  

And mark them well.  

The wicked surely fall.  

An eagle fierce is now pursuing them  

And ordeals dire upon their footsteps tread.  

Except they turn and grasp My Garment’s hem  

Of justice, they are numbered with the dead.  

For while they to their sure destruction ride,  

My Spirit, once again enshrined in flesh,  

My Very Self, comes hastening to man’s aid  

And summons a vast Host, unto His side  

To build My Kingdom on the ruined plan  

For power which those rabid wolves have made.  

The tread of these, My Hosts, shall shake the world,  

And make each tyrant totter on his throne. Look! Even now have they not sternly  

hurled  

A horde of them unto their doom! Now prone  

They lie who late their filthy dunghill strode And blatantly their barnyard triumph  

crowed.  

For all such cocks the last dread hour hath struck.  

The vengeance of My marching Hosts shall pluck  

Them from their seats. Among forgotten things  

Soon—Soon shall they be numbered. Look! Their wings 

 

Have now been clipped: they speedily shall fall  

Into the pit they for their brothers dug  

And none shall hark nor heed their dying call.  

Man Speaks:  

Thy Hosts! Thy Hosts triumphant? Who are these,  

O God! I see them not. The tyrant seems  

Triumphant: When one falls his vacant place  

Is taken by another worse than he.  

How canst Thou let such huge injustice be!  

In vain man dreams of his long-sought release  

From slavery to arrogance. His dreams  

Of liberty and truth across the face  

Of History float like a wraith. It seems  

That warfare triumphs, not Thy promised Peace;  

Of brotherhood sincere there’s scarce a trace.  

God Speaks:  

I am the Lord of Hosts! My hosts indeed  

Are those who from all human ties are freed,  

And rise to serve My Everlasting Truth.  

Each one of them holds in his righteous hand  

A trumpet, sounding loudly in each land  

The call to free and more abundant life.  

These walk above the world by My Great Name,  

And, like a searing, devastating flame  

Destroy the forts of wrong and still man’s strife.  

From every human attribute set free  

They take commands from Me—from only Me!  

See how the shadow moveth when its lord,  

The sun, commands. So do My servants stand  

And move, and raze and build at My Command.  

These rule the world with Justice, My Keen Sword.  

My attributes adorn their earthly frame;  

Their very names are lost in My Great Name; 

 

SONG OFFERINGS 

 

959 

 

Their brows illumined with My Holiness They singing march all evil to redress.  

So bath My love their total being won:  

So bath It through their veins and arteries run,  

That every part and limb obeys My Voice:  

They can no other for they’ve made their choice.  

When once My servants listen unto Me  

They hear none else, for they at last are free  

From all dependence on men’s praise or blame.  

My smile their glory is, My frown their shame.  

My Power assists them: one alone pursues  

A thousand and ten times that number flee  

At threat of two. Before their thundering feet  

All strongholds fall as Jericho once fell.  

The chains of slaves, the bars of prisons greet  

Their shouts and vanish when they sound the knell.  

Such are My Hosts. They have bound up their thews  

With My all-conquering omnipotence. Who can resist them whom My Power en-  

dues!  

The Tree of Man  

Must bear My fruits. He must affirm My Plan.  

He must abolish slavery and war.  

He must compassion have on all My poor.  

He must establish Justice in his gates.  

All prejudice, all ignorance, all hates  

He must abolish from his inmost part  

And love his enemies with all his heart.  

He must establish Unity; know all Religions, races, creeds and flags as one.  

Humanity with two wings flies. If one Be clipped how can My servants soar and  

sing?  

Hence Woman must be free—her slavery done—  

That she may fly with man on equal wing. 

 

One language must he learn to speak, that so The winds of vague distrust may cease to  

blow.  

He must to all details of life apply  

The Law of Love. Thus all his social needs  

Shall be immersed in My pure Sea, and seeds  

Of hatred, born of envy, quickly die.  

For economic ills, howe’er involved  

Are by the science of My Love resolved.  

I have decreed all work to worship be, And work for service done is love for Me.  

Man must all ancient barriers cast down,  

Inherited from days when Nature made  

Men strangers, pagans, foes unto each other.  

All man-made walls that fearfulness bath laid  

To keep man from his friendly, unknown brother,  

Must nevermore upon My children frown.  

Man must upon My Singleness agree; In all My Prophets see My Unity, And in Their Meeting know that they meet  

Me.  

For all are but the Trumpets of My Voice Who in My heart’s companionship rejoice, And bring men to My Kingdom 

for their  

choice.  

All peoples must a general council call  

To form a Parliament of Man, that all  

Mankind in friendly conference may meet  

And frame a Universal Law for Man,  

The Race, based on My Word revealed today.  

Blest is the soul who loves and serves his kind,  

Not he who loves alone his native land.  

Thus all My children gather at My feet;  

Thus all conform to one generic Plan;  

Thus all, with joy, My Will, not man’s, obey.  

Men’s eyes shall then see Glory, late so blind. Rejoice! Rejoice! This is My fixed Command.  

For Lo! My Day of Justice now bath dawned,  

And hell its final wickedness hath spawned. 

 

960 

 

THE BAHA’I WORLD 

 

All men who love this Light and tend Its burning:  

All men who, prejudice and hatred spurning, Follow Its Gleam, are in My Host enrolled.  

All men who have the Universal mind;  

All men who limbs of weeping slaves unbind;  

All men who for each thought of war do hold,  

And firmly hold, a stronger thought of peace;  

All men who in their inmost heart enfold  

The Christian, Moslem, Jew, and never cease  

Proclaiming Oneness; Men who treat the white,  

The black, the yellow—each one as a flower  

Within My Garden, varicolored light  

Which makes My perfect spectrum; all who shower  

My Knowledge on the eager minds, (what men  

Call science), and who know they have found Me  

Anew when any Truth is found, My Pen, My Pen Supreme, records such loyal men As of My Host: of such My 

Kingdom be.  

For that blest hour which no man knew hath rung;  

My angels to man’s longing ear have sung; The Light bath shone from East unto the  

West;  

My wandering birds are homing to their Nest.  

The thief was in the house while owner slept.  

If only men had prayed and vigil kept  

They would have known Me when in Man My Throne  

I mounted, and My Light upon them shone.  

With My great Besom now I sweep the world.  

Soon all the flags of evil shall be furled.  

The self-called great shall learn how small they are  

When My transcendent Oneness they ignore.  

All such are likened unto reckless boys  

In puddles playing on My sea’s vast shore.  

Soon they shall hear My venging Ocean roar 

 

And see its waves o’erwhelm their childish toys:  

And they themselves be swept to doom so great  

That none would stoop to envy their estate.  

Man Speaks:  

O Glorious Lord! My heart is living song;  

At last I glimpse the light for which I long.  

My heart bursts with the hope of meeting Thee!  

Now all my questions, asked and unasked, flee  

Before Thy Mighty Word.  

0, may I be  

Enrolled with these, Thy chosen ones? May I  

Be privileged to die, unknown, for Thee:  

Or, self-forgetting, be allowed to live  

And all my dedicated powers give  

That my own fellow-men no more may lie  

In graves of their own digging?  

So may Thy  

Long-promised Kingdom now be built on earth;  

That so in midst of plenty may be dearth No more, and from all sorrowed, weeping  

eyes  

Shall tears be wiped away, and anguished cries Replaced by joyous song!  

My eager being flies  

To seek my longed-for, promised Guide;  

Nor is the night so dark nor world so wide  

But I shall find Him and His Word obey.  

0, Voice of God! Assure success, I pray! Confer illumination on my day!  

God Speaks:  

When man calls unto Me with heart sincere  

As thine, Lo! I become the very ear  

With which he heareth My assured reply. 

 

Unto thy eager knock My Love all doors unlock. 

 

Man Speaks: 

 

Now to myself at last—at last—I die! And, risen to true Life, armed with Love’s  

sword,  

I march beneath Thy banner, nor care when, Nor where, nor how I meet my shining Lord Enthroned in Man, for I shall 

know Him  

then! 

 

SONG OFFERINGS 

 

961 

 

God Speaks:  

My glory rests upon thee. On thy head  

My confirmations fall.  

Before thy tread  

All obstacles shall fade and I will lead Thee to thy heart’s desire.  

I grant release  

To thee from bondage; from all fear surcease.  

To every soul who followeth Guidance— Peace. 

 

THE END 

 

—HOWARD COLBY Ivus 

 

VI  

AT THE GRAVE OF THORNTON CHASE  

O blessed spot! Where once the Master trod! ‘Twas here He lifted up His voice in  

prayer,  

Unto that Glorious One, with Him to share  

His poignant grief. For here, beneath the sod,—  

O’ershadowed by the murmuring leaYes  

which nod  

In autumn’s breeze—the earthly temple fair  

Of him—His faithful son without compare,— Was laid,—this servant of the Will of God.  

O holy shrine! They come from every land To honor him, in western world the first  

To see the Light of this New Day. To whom  

The Master station gave. His blest command With joy we heed. We seek his shrine,  

athirst  

For peace, which vibrates from this sacred tomb. 

 

VII  

—GE5ENA KOCH 

 

LONE-STAR  

Dedicated 

to 

Martha Root 

 

Star-soul upon your further voyage bent, You leave our orbit gladdened by your light! 

 

Through years, the purpose of your high intent  

Was but to cleanse and uplift human sight  

To Baha’u’lláh’s Sun of Truth!  

To give this purblind world a youth  

Of hopes and dreams, born of His Kingly word  

Whose lucent power makes space a womb of wealth  

Rich with a freedom forged in spirit’s fire!  

Upon that anvil, you laid down desire  

For the companioned ways of human love  

And in lone beauty shone o’er many lands,  

Your chart of hope surrendered to His hands.  

The world was but a bead upon the thread Of your life’s work, a faith, a prayer, That moved so silken through the 

weight  

of night,  

Cupping your heart, to catch the love and light  

That lead this age to a transcendent morn! Who knows what mysteries shall there be 

 

born? 

 

—BEAYRICE IRWIN 

 

VIII  

THE WORLD OF TOMORROW  

I know not how I chanced upon  

That glorious Orb beneath the sun,  

Nor can I now recall the way  

That brought me to that Golden Day.  

I only know it led along  

Invis’ble tracks of even-song  

And wound its way thru pricks and goads  

Down dense and dark primeval roads.  

I know not how I came upon  

That splendid Orb beneath the sun;  

I cannot tell 

. . . 

unless it be  

That half-awake and aimlessly,  

I wandered by, and, from within,  

A gust of Love had drawn me in.  

Or it may be, by way of sport,  

A storm-cloud blew me to that Port.  

I know not how, but one bright day  

I found myself a cycle away  

From bonds of dread and bonds of dearth,  

Upon a new uplighted earth,  

The like of which was neYer seen  

By anyone, however keen,  

Who lives bereft of inward mirth  

Upon Today’s benighted earth. 

 

962 

 

THE BAHA’I WORLD 

 

That Planet has no parallel  

In any sphere where mortals dwell:  

Supporting it as on a throne,  

Its broad millenial cornerstone,  

Around, before it and behind,  

Proclaims the Oneness of Mankind;  

The while a new and joyous dream  

Supports each sacred, massive beam;  

And the whole structure of its frame,  

Alight with Justice and aflame  

With Righteousness from base to dome,  

Has rendered it a true World-Home,  

Where all desire only the good  

Of all its various brotherhood.  

The Orb itself is like a tide  

Of gold and grain on every side,  

And overflows each vale and wold,  

Like some great vat, too full to hold,  

And spills in fountains gold and grain  

On rugged places and on plain— That all may garner and may share  

The plenty which is everywhere.  

Besides its seas that shine and roll,  

And oceans which surround it whole,  

On one side rise from mists of things  

White mountains like celestial wings;  

And on the other, pillars rise,  

Rise high and noble to the skies;  

And here and there an arch and dome  

As of castles in some starry home.  

And all around in even flow,  

Upon the high hills and the low,  

Deep rivers feed the fertile lands  

Like multitudes of loving hands.  

There is no valley but has fountains,  

No highland but has golden mountains,  

No wilderness but has a pool,  

And every root is glad and cool.  

For, as, in gratitude, unto  

A Kind, that’s merciful and true,  

That keeps the Justice and the Peace,  

Nor knows the ways of avarice,  

The elements, it seems to me,  

Work there in conscious ministry,  

And they, together with the earth,  

Contrive that bounty and that mirth.  

The Orb, I said, is like a tide  

Of gold and grain on every side 

.  

But, ah! to what shall I compare  

The peerless peoples assembled there!  

The righteous nations that understand 

 

Their Planet is a Fatherland!  

What I saw there no man has seen  

Save he so blest as there to’ve been,  

Save he who chanced, with weary breath,  

From out a world, plunged deep in death,  

From out a sphere, impelled by din,  

Outwardly live, but dead within,  

To look into an Orb that beams  

With Justice and with Truth redeems!  

A World that knows not of such things  

As risen clowns and fallen kings;  

Or any place or path, along— Men straining at the leash of wrong;  

Or burning yokes that bend awry;  

Or cank’ring wounds that brutify;  

Or rabid men commanding fate;  

Or mad men at the helm of state;  

A world where no one wants or needs,  

Where no one prides or lusts or greeds,  

Or grinds or crushes any more,  

Or shatters or destroys by war;  

Where all inventiveness and skill,  

The learning and the common will  

Is consecrated to a-grace  

And dignify the human race.  

And everywhere I saw the same,  

In little lands and lands of name;  

The teeming earth, the plenteous wine,  

The shade and refuge of the vine,  

And all the milk and myrrh and mirth  

Are shared by all who dwell on earth.  

And none who labor there are dreary;  

And none who serve are ever weary;  

And none are waxen fat and sleek;  

And none are portionless and weak;  

But all are strong and mount up high,  

With wings, like eagles, to the sky;  

And like the eagle, unbound and free,  

Is all of that humanity;  

And there is singing in the fields,  

And there is gladness in the yields,  

And understandings never cease,  

And ah! there is no end of Peace.  

And what a glory ‘twas to see,  

(I did not dream such things could be),  

A World all clean and wholly freed  

Of every barrier of race and creed!  

Whence everything, that leads astray,  

Was swept, as by the wind, away;  

Whence all the images of old,  

The molten ones of brass and gold, 

 

SONG OFFERINGS 

 

963 

 

And graven ones of silver bars,  

That vied in shining with the stars,  

Were cast away, like things unclean;  

Are never spoken of or seen.  

And none proclaims the praise of gain,  

And none bow low to what is vain,  

And none are serving turbid needs,  

And none are trafficking in creeds,  

And no false prophets, in disguise,  

Are blinding men with baleful lies,  

Not anywhere, in any place!  

But everywhere a nameless grace  

For every acre that World around  

Is holy, consecrated ground,  

And all the Sphere, with one accord,  

The Tabernacle of the Lord— Since all cohere and all declare  

The Oneness of Religion there.  

And ah! this too was good to see;  

A Planet, calm and tumult-free,  

Whence all the uproar and mistrust  

Has vanished in a cloud of dust:  

As tho the Lord had stretched His Hand  

And touched each mouth in every land— All speak a universal tongue!  

And high and low and old and young,  

And peoples from all parts and poles  

Converse together like kindred souls  

And members of a single band,  

Or children of one native land.  

And lo! there’s nowhere the confounding  

And the confusion so astounding,  

Which drove apart and led astray  

The crumbling Babel of Today  

But everywhere the harmony  

Of branches on a leafy tree,  

And pure, ah pure, enlightened hearts  

And understanding in all parts;  

And all the earth, replete with glory— Untold as yet in any story.  

For how make known, to what compare  

The bounties of the spirit there?  

Such outpouring of nameless grace  

As a United Human Race?  

Or faiths of every shade and notion  

Merged, like rivers in an ocean?  

Or all the thousand tongues men spun  

Reduced to clearness and to One?  

And how describe and how compute  

Such harvests of eternal fruit 

 

As bowed-down men, grown straight and tall,  

With Peace on earth, Good Will to all?  

I know not how, I said, before,  

I chanced upon that Golden Shore;  

Nor can I tell what magic steed,  

In faith or fun, had done this deed;  

I know not how, I know not who,  

But this I know, this thing is true:  

I saw, with eyes undimmed and clear,  

Tomorrow’s All-Inclusive Sphere,  

Anchored in Truth that sets men free  

And leads to all Infinity! 

 

—SvLvXA